Quad core vs Dual core mac mini

[Mojo1]

others have posted that it does increase to 512...I doubt it would fully offset the advantages of the discrete GPU, though

Dan Frakes wrote the following about the GPU choices:

"Unless you're doing graphics-intensive tasks, such as the latest games or rendering, you're not going to see much difference between the integrated Intel HD 3000 and the discrete Radeon GPU. In that case, you're paying $200 more for 2GB of RAM (~$45 if you upgrade the $599 model yourself) and a slightly faster (0.2GHz) processor. To me, that makes the $599 model the better buy for anyone but those who really need the best performance."

It's in the comments section of this review: http://www.macworld.com/article/161414/2011/08/mac_mini_mid_2011_review.html

 

[shortcut3d]

I just went crazy and upgraded my 2011 Mac Mini Server using a spare parts (I was planning to eBay) to 16GB RAM and dual 240GB OCZ Vertex 3 MAX IOPS.

 

[keema]

question..

I just went crazy and upgraded my 2011 Mac Mini Server using a spare parts (I was planning to eBay) to 16GB RAM and dual 240GB OCZ Vertex 3 MAX IOPS.

@shortcut,

You have 2 mini's? the 2.7 dual and the server?

 

[shortcut3d]

@shortcut,

You have 2 mini's? the 2.7 dual and the server?

Yes, currently using the two different models (see signature for current configuration). The discrete in the 2.7 dual is significantly better with 29/59 frame rate content under bootcamp. The server as its been said is a beast for ripping/encoding 1080p content.

 

[keema]

awesome

@shortcut,

thats so cool you have two of the best mini's.

One in dual core and of course the Quad.

 

[shortcut3d]

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@shortcut,

thats so cool you have two of the best mini's.

One in dual core and of course the Quad.

Thanks. Reminds me of my enthusiast days on HardOCP with crazy gaming rigs.

I affectionately refer to the i7 dual core as my Black Ops edition and the server as Skunk Works edition.

 

[smallnshort247]

Before getting the Mac Mini, my main Mac was a MacBook Pro. I'm very pleased with the new 2.7 Dual Core Mac Mini though. I'll be upgrading the ram in a few days to 8gb. The graphics card while not the best in the world plays games without any lag while supporting my two 24 inch monitors.

 

[thekev]

I just went crazy and upgraded my 2011 Mac Mini Server using a spare parts (I was planning to eBay) to 16GB RAM and dual 240GB OCZ Vertex 3 MAX IOPS.

I notice a lot of people on here maxing out minis. It just shows some of us hate imacs as the desktop option . I'm waiting on the next mac pro.

 

[shortcut3d]

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I just went crazy and upgraded my 2011 Mac Mini Server using a spare parts (I was planning to eBay) to 16GB RAM and dual 240GB OCZ Vertex 3 MAX IOPS.

I notice a lot of people on here maxing out minis. It just shows some of us hate imacs as the desktop option . I'm waiting on the next mac pro.

So I've built my Black Ops and Skunk Works editions of 2011 Mac Mini's. However, I still use a beast of a 2010 27" iMac (see signature). The main reason for a Mac Mini was to get a second super compact powerful desktop to share the same screen with the iMac.

 

[lali]

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So I've built my Black Ops and Skunk Works editions of 2011 Mac Mini's. However, I still use a beast of a 2010 27" iMac (see signature). The main reason for a Mac Mini was to get a second super compact powerful desktop to share the same screen with the iMac.

Hi
I am very interested to learn about how you use this setup.

For example, I encode a lot via Handbrake. I would encode on both computers at the same time (one queue on iMac and one queue on the Mini). I wonder if you do this and how you like the performance. I am currently at crossroads with my own setup and I think that having a Mini has a powerful "helper" for encoding is brilliant. Too bad I cannot connect a Mini to my old Imac.

thanks

 

[shortcut3d]

Hi
I am very interested to learn about how you use this setup.

For example, I encode a lot via Handbrake. I would encode on both computers at the same time (one queue on iMac and one queue on the Mini). I wonder if you do this and how you like the performance. I am currently at crossroads with my own setup and I think that having a Mini has a powerful "helper" for encoding is brilliant. Too bad I cannot connect a Mini to my old Imac.

thanks

The 2011 Mac Mini 2.7GHz Dual-Core Intel i7 is used as a HTPC running Windows 7 64-bit via bootcamp. Its dedicated to recording up to 6 HD shows and can playback HD on two Xbox 360 Slim 4GB Media Center extenders. I had to enable AHCI in order to get the drive performance necessary. Windows also has to be installed on a separate drive hence the 240GB OCZ Vertex 3 MAX IOPS, which with AHCI enable can reach 550MB/s.

The 2011 Mac Mini Server 2.0GHz Quad-Core Intel i7 is now a secondary Windows 7 Professional 64-bit / OSX Lion 10.7.2 workstation. Originally, it was used as media server for Windows Media Center containing Music, HD Movies, International Titles, and Standard Definition Movies. However, I have more space than originally planned (the wife clears the recordings quickly) and have since consolidated the media to the HTPC listed above. Unlike the system above, this Mac Mini dual boots Windows and OSX with each on a dedicated 240GB OCZ Vertex 3 MAX IOPS (dual SSDs). I have VMware Fusion available to utilize 2 processors and 8GB memory to access the Windows 7 64-bit bootcamp drive. This is only used when I need both OSes at the same time. Both OSes serve as their respective sandboxes. New software is installed here first before rolling out into "Production". The MacBook Pro and iMac are clean "Production" machines with only necessary software installed and get backed up frequently with Time Machine to a 3TB Time Capsule. I recently added a LaCie Thunderbolt Little Big Disk modified with two (2) 240GB OCZ Vertex 3 SSDs configured in Windows Dynamic Disk Stripe RAID set. This is my scratch disk for Windows. All media processing in Windows is performed on this drive. The LaCie Thunderbolt Little Big Disk is connected to the Mac Mini via Apple Thunderbolt cable then to the 27" iMac via Mini Displayport cable. I use Command-F2 to switch between iMac and Mac Mini. Both systems can have processes running. Obviously, I need two sets of Apple Wireless Keyboard and Magic Track Pad because the screen is not a KVM switch. I use a LaCie Slim Portable Bluray RW for ripping on the Mac Mini in DVDfab. I typically rip to WMA10 with 5.1 because I use Xbox 360 extenders. The LaCie is the slowest link in the chain, but it gets put away when I'm not ripping. The original backup of our DVD / Bluray collection used the MacBook Pro, iMac and Mac Mini simultaneously to rip multiple DVD Bluray at a time.

The iMac and MacBook Pro are primarily used for Aperture, iPhoto, iWork, Office for Mac. I capture in both RAW and JPEG on my Nikon D7000. So we have a large collection of RAW photos which are edited in Aperture. We typically capture 800 - 1000 photos per trip, which require a lot of trimming of the collection. All these tasks eat memory.

In theory you could remote to the Mac Mini Server and still run Handbrake. You would not need dual displays or the ability to toggle. The Mac Mini 2.7GHz Dual-Core Intel i7 running bootcamp Windows 7 64-bit Professional is headless. I RDP for all functions. Sometimes, I even RDP to the Mac Mini Server even though I can access it with Command-F2. RDP definitely more powerful than a Virtual Machine and about as convenient. I haven't remotely accessed OSX since Snow Leopard, but I imagine its still possible in OSX Lion.

 

[Anonymous Freak]

To clarify, the dual-core is "nominally" a 2.7 GHz CPU, but it will "turbo" up to as high as 3.4 GHz when only a single core is active, and up to 3.2 GHz when both cores are active.

Likewise, the quad-core is nominally a 2.0 GHz CPU, but it will turbo up to as high as 2.9 GHz when a single core is active, 2.8 GHz when two cores are active, and 2.6 GHz when three or four cores are active.

So while there is a "nominal" 700 MHz speed difference, the better turbo ratios on the quad-core part mean that with a single core active it's only a 500 MHz gap, and with two cores active it shrinks to only a 400 MHz gap; obviously anything that uses more than two cores will absolutely perform better on the quad-core part. In the desktop form factor, the mobile parts should be able to hit their full turbo all the time.

If you're comparing the low-end integrated graphics dual-core with the quad-core, it might also be of concern that the graphics system in the dual-core model has a higher max turbo than in the quad-core as well. But if you're concerned primarily about graphics performance, you want the dual-core discrete graphics model over the quad-core model.

I wish Apple would offer the 2760QM in the quad-core model. It only costs $32 more than the dual-core part (the same price the quad-core Apple is using was on launch,) has the same integrated graphics turbo speed, and HIGHER CPU turbo speeds. Unfortunately, since the CPU is soldered, we can't just swap it...

 

[wonderspark]

The OP mentioned "light" video editing with Adobe Premiere, which uses as many cores as you have. For example, I have a 6-core with HyperThreading, so it "sees" 12 processors. Fortunately, you can adjust how many cores the CS5 suite will use, and I have mine set to use only eight processors, leaving the remaining four to other programs and background operations.

Point being, if you edit video with Premiere, you want more cores. Otherwise, everything will take that much longer and be that much slower.